


i cannot touch because they are too near

by jillyfae



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Found Family, M/M, Parabatai Bond, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 11:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17621222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: If Magnus is going to love Alexander (which of course he is) then he's going to have to understand hisparabataiand their bond, at least a little bit better than he does now. But he's not entirely sure how or where to start...





	i cannot touch because they are too near

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [i cannot touch because they are too near](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18723070) by [Batty_Blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batty_Blue/pseuds/Batty_Blue)



> _Becoming_ parabatai _takes practice. Training before the ceremony itself, physical and mental, meditation and sparring, how to move together, think together, read each other's cues even before you can feel them._

_How to live together, because if you can't even handle being classmates, roommates, compatriots, partners, you'll never survive being soulmates._

_You have to prove you're practically soulmates on your own before they'll let you take the rune and make it real._

_Or that's the theory._

_Sometimes they get it right._

_Sometimes they don't._

* * *

Alec stops mid-word, mid-gesture, hands pausing in the air for a moment before they fall to his sides and he's staring down at his left foot, which he lifts and rolls in a tight circle. 

"Step wrong?" Magnus asks as he stops too, though he's relatively sure that's not what happened. Alec would probably just ignore it if he'd twisted his own ankle, which means it's not his own mis-step he's thinking about. 

Alec shrugs in Magnus' direction. "Feels like a sprain, not a break. Hopefully Jace'll remember to ice it this time."

"This time?" Magnus lifts a single eyebrow.

Alec's face shifts into a wry twist of a smile. "If I try to list every time Jace forgot to take care of a bruise and woke up sore and grumpy about the ache the next day, we'll never make it to dinner."

Magnus allows himself a soft indignant snort. "Because you're any better."

Alec shrugs again, not even attempting to argue. "There were more than a few reasons we were encouraged to be _parabatai._ "

"Self-sacrificing idiots recognize each other?"

It's Alec's turn to lift his eyebrows, slow and purposeful and _goodness_ he's pretty when he does that. "If that was all it took, the two of you would get along much better."

Magnus gasps and presses a hand to his chest, all fake offense and horror, and feels the warmth curl beneath his ribs when Alec laughs. 

Magnus drops his hand, and shakes them both out before lifting one into a presumably familiar start of a gesture. "Do we need a short-cut?"

Alec frowns as if confused, and then scoffs out a rough breath before taking Magnus' hand and starting down the street again. "I'm not the one who tripped over a stair or whatever."

"But you could feel it?" Magnus is never sure how to ask about the _parabatai_ bond, and he's never met a Nephilim who was either comfortable or possibly even _capable_ of talking much about it, despite occasional attempts to learn more over the years. 

Alec nods, and then shakes his head again. "We get physical cues, yes, but it'd be kinda useless in battle if we shared _pain._ Oh no, Jace got stabbed, I feel like I got stabbed, we both fall down and get eaten by demons?"

Magnus snickers, and tries not to think too much about Alec and battles or stabbings or demons. "I will concede the point, if I must."

Alec huffs out another overly audible breath. "You're ridiculous."

"But you love me despite it all."

Alec pauses, and tugs Magnus closer against his side before he starts walking again. His voice is soft, but clear enough Magnus has no difficulty hearing. " _And_ I love you for it."

* * *

_It starts like this:_

_The ceremony ends with a flash of light, of power, and you have another heartbeat._

_It's almost the same as yours, settles in your chest right where a heart should be, and it mostly beats the same, strong and steady, but not quite. It's not yours, and it never will be, but you guard it just the same, just as hard._

_Harder, even. It's so much more precious than your own._

* * *

"How's the ankle?" Magnus slides a mug across the table, smiles at Alec as he picks it up and breathes in the coffee's steam.

"Better than expected." Alec smiles back, and Magnus wishes he could freeze time, just for a little bit, just for a short break, just long enough to linger, long enough to enjoy that smile. "Either it wasn't as bad as I thought, or he actually remembered to wrap it properly afterwards."

"Or Biscuit reminded him."

"That is, unfortunately, much more likely." Alec rolls his eyes, though Magnus isn't sure if it's at Jace's inability to take care of himself or having to admit that Clary can be a good influence on people. Alec starts to take a sip, winces, and sets his mug back down; it was clearly still a touch too hot.

Magnus tilts his head. "Does Jace know you just burned your tongue?"

"Probably not." 

"Too small?"

Alec shrugs. "Something like that."

"You can tell when he's hurt, and that it's different than when you're hurt, even though you don't also hurt, but the little stuff doesn't usually register?"

Alec does an odd and entirely unhelpful nod/head-shake/shrug maneuver, as if he really doesn't have a clue how to explain it. Another check in the _apparently incapable_ column. Which is fair enough; it's hard to describe a lot of things related to magic with mundane words. 

Magnus takes a careful sip of his tea. If he's going to love Alexander—which he is because he does, and he will, and that's never going to change—he needs to understand this, at least a little bit better than he does now. "Is it like an alarm in your head? A memory?" _A phone call? A telegraph? A radio signal? Carrier pigeons?_

Magnus is perhaps getting a trifle ridiculous again.

"It's a photograph rather than a vision?" Alec sounds entirely uncertain in regards the words he's chosen, but it sounds like a reasonable enough metaphor to Magnus. "It's not like there's any telepathy, or uh. Empathy? We don't share emotions or thoughts or pain, we just—" Alec gestures awkwardly at his own body.

"Physical cues, right." Magnus tries not to think what physical cues equated to Jace's _I can tell he's happier_. He fails. "Do I want to know if sex gives off 'cues' or should I remain cheerfully ignorant?"

Alec's cheeks flush, but he chuckles easily enough to make it clear he's not actually embarrassed. "We usually keep the bond pretty quiet unless we're fighting. I suppose sex would translate a lot like any other physical activity? Nothing too dramatic, but yeah. If one of us was paying attention at the wrong moment we'd probably figure it out by context, but it's not like we can _feel_ anything that's, uh. Too private?"

"So he _probably_ didn't get the equivalent of a much-too-personal photo album delivered to his brain last night?"

Alec half-snorts and half-coughs and drops the mug back on the table, hot coffee spilling up and over his fingers at the uneven impact.

Magnus laughs, and Alec grabs a napkin to clean up, and Magnus sends a soothing wash of magic over Alec's hands just in case. "Sorry."

Alec looks at him from under heavy eyebrows, but he can't quite hold in the twitch of a smile trying to form. "No, you're not."

"No, I'm not."

* * *

_It begins like this:_

_You have two heartbeats, two sets of lungs, you can feel when your_ other _shoulder itches, not like yours itches, it's clearly not yours, and yet you want to scratch regardless._

_You're sitting quietly, studying or planning or waiting or wasting time, (even we waste time, it's all right), but your heart beats too fast and you're breathless._

_Only you're sitting quietly, and your heart is steady and your lungs are quiet, in and out, as slow as ever._

_The_ other _you is running too hard, racing or fighting or fucking, the_ other _you is pushing too hard. You exhale, slow and deep, and put your hand on your rune. You think about breathing until you can feel the difference: you are_ here, _they are_ there, _and eventually your heartbeats match again._

_You have to do it again five minutes later, five hours, five days, five weeks, five years._

_It gets easier._

_Simpler, at least. It will never really be_ easy.

* * *

Lydia is in town for a visit, and Magnus' odd little extended half-Nephilim family has ended up at the Hunter's Moon. They're gathered around a couple tables shoved together, a dizzying collection of mismatched glasses scattered between them all, conversation bouncing back and forth easily enough. 

Alec's gone quiet, as he usually does when he's around more than two people at a time, but he's leaning back in his chair, his shoulders relaxed and a hint of a smile in his eyes, and Magnus knows he's enjoying himself. 

Maryse and Lucian start to say their farewells, pushing back from the tables and standing up and waving. It is a very odd feeling to realize that at this point in his life Magnus quite strongly identifies with _Maryse Lightwood_ of all people, as he is considering sneaking out early with his boyfriend, too.

All the children get exhausting sometimes. Especially since Catarina already left to rescue Madzie's babysitter so he has no one to make obscure 300 year old jokes with to pass the time.

Raphael never cooperates when he attempts the occasional 50 year old one.

Alec shifts beside him, head ducked and a twitch of his lips like he's trying to hold something in, right as Jace says something that sounds more like a squawk than words, his face starting to flush pink as Isabelle and Clary and Maia all start laughing together.

Magnus tilts his head and watches Alec's smile widen. Alec had moved _at the same time_ as Jace's reaction, too soon to be reacting to the sight of it.

Another weird _parabatai_ thing, or did he hear whatever set Jace off?

"You said it's not empathy." Magnus doesn't manage to phrase it like a question.

Alec turns his head with a frown, trying to figure out what Magnus means. Magnus manages a flick of his fingers, a wave of his arm from Alec to Jace and back again. "Your reaction time seemed... unlikely?"

Alec blinks, mouth opening in a silent _oh._

Magnus waits, but Alec doesn't say anything. 

"Jace mentioned once that he could tell that you were happier."

Alec's slightly stunned expression eases back into a smile. "I am. But everyone can tell that."

"Not the way he does though."

"No," Alec agrees. "You've been asking about Jace and the bond a lot lately."

"I love you." Magnus shrugs, keeps going even though it's difficult not to be distracted by the look on Alec's face as he says that. "He's a part of you."

Alec leans forward, and presses a quick kiss to Magnus' cheek. He leans back, and the tilts his head as he looks at Magnus, as he considers. "That's not all of it though."

"Well." Magnus gestures widely, entirely incomprehensibly. He's not even sure what it is he's trying to figure out. He just wants... something. "The _parabatai_ I've known all had complicated relationships." 

Alec lifts his eyebrows. 

"Not from the outside, not external responsibilities, not like we do. Did. Do?"

Alec's face does not shift, clearly not any more enlightened.

"Lucian and Valentine both loved the same woman." Alec doesn't quite wince at the reminder of Jocelyn's life, but it's a close thing, judging by the way his lips tighten. In his peripheral vision, Magnus sees Jace glance over at them, lingering a moment longer than usual before turning back to defend himself from whatever story it is that Isabelle's telling. 

Magnus reaches out a hand, rests it on Alec's arm, waits until he sighs, and the tension singing beneath his skin eases a little.

"I knew a Herondale once before, and he and his _parabatai_ managed to be engaged to the same woman. Sequentially, not at the same time." 

Alec shakes his head, an odd tremble in his voice when he starts to speak. "Is this your way of telling me you and Jace are pining for each other behind my back?"

Magnus pulls his hand back and glares. Alec laughs at him, loudly enough the rest of the group pauses in their conversations to look at them. 

"That was terrible, Alexander." Magnus crosses his arms over his chest, as Alec leans forward, trying and failing to even out his breathing. "I am attempting a serious conversation."

"I know, I know." Alec coughs a few times, a shiver of laughter still making his shoulders shift. "Sorry. Really, I just." He spreads his hands almost helplessly, and Magnus feels himself smile back.

"I know." Magnus sighs. "I don't even know enough to know what to _ask._ "

He doesn't blame Alec for not knowing what he's trying to say, for not having words for something that the Nephilim clearly never talk about; it's just so aggravating, having a mystery in front of him with no good way to research it, to solve it. He hates not _knowing._ He wishes there was a hand-book or something. "I don't suppose there's a Nephilim children's book on the subject out there? _Parabatai_ cliff-notes for dummies?"

Alec's face twists, as if he's having trouble interpreting or conjugating the sentence into something resembling sense. Magnus can see the moment it slots into place, and Alec's smile is back. "You're frustrated there's not a pile of academic treatises for you to read so you can be a proper _expert._ "

Magnus shrugs again, a bit more extravagantly. "Perhaps a little."

"There's no proper manual for us either, beyond the rune description in the Gray Book. If that helps."

Magnus shudders eloquently. 

"Maybe you'll be the one to write one," Alec says. "You're the smartest man I've ever known."

Magnus might be blushing. "Flatterer." 

"It's not flattery, it's the truth." Alec is, as always, heart-breakingly sincere.

Magnus attempts to tease despite it all; it's that or getting dramatically sappy in public and that's a terrible idea. "Should I tell Isabelle that you said so?"

Alec clicks his tongue, as if disappointed. "Why do you think I said you're the smartest _man_ I know?"

Magnus throws back his head and laughs, lets himself fall completely into it, into this, amusement and affection and _Alexander,_ lets himself forget their audience, their expectations, the questions that probably don't even _have_ answers, and just be happy. 

It's such a change, he sometimes doesn't know what to do with it.

He's going to enjoy figuring it out.

* * *

_It goes on and on, like this, like this:_

_Sometimes the other heartbeat is so loud you can't feel your own._

_Sometimes you reach and you can't feel your other heartbeat_ at all.

_Sometimes you stub your toe, and the other you swears._

_Sometimes your shoulder itches and the other you scratches._

_Sometimes you want to scream, because you just want to be_ alone.

_Sometimes you want to scream, because despite your other heartbeat, you're always too alone._

* * *

Magnus should get up.

He should, but Alec's body is comfortingly heavy against his side, and it's very difficult to remember why he'd ever need to get out of bed again.

Except he needs the bathroom.

He sighs and starts to slide sideways, but Alec's leg presses down and his arm pulls Magnus closer. "Mmm-mmm." 

Magnus swallows the fond ache in his throat and pats Alec's arm, then tries to move again. 

Alec shakes his head against Magnus' shoulder and tightens his grip.

"Alexander." Magnus tries not to laugh. "I'll be right back."

"Promise?" His voice is rough and half-asleep, but there's something sharp and fragile beneath the words, as if part of him still doesn't quite believe that Magnus means it, that he'll always come back, that Alec is not going to be alone again.

"Of course, love." Magnus presses a kiss to the top of Alec's head.

Alec grunts, and rolls over until his arm flops against the other side of the bed. "Sorry."

"No need to be." Magnus slips away, blowing a kiss back over his shoulder before the bathroom door closes behind him. _I feel the same way._

He's not sure how to say that out loud. When he's done he crawls back into bed and wraps himself around Alec and hopes the gesture is clear enough to say it for him. Alec clings right back, and Magnus is pretty sure it does.

He shifts his shoulders, settling more comfortably against Alec's chest, close enough he can feel Alec's heartbeat beneath him. 

It's one of his favorite sounds now, low and steady. His thumb is rubbing back and forth in the same rhythm against Alec's skin, _ba-dump,_ slide, _ba-dump,_ slide. It's soothing and warm and perfect. "Let's never get up again."

Alec hums, a clear enough agreement.

Magnus closes his eyes, all set to see how close to forever they manage, when he hears Alec's phone buzz on the nightstand. He sighs, and starts to try and push back, but Alec's grip tightens again, refusing to let him go.

"It's just Jace. If it's important someone will try again from an Institute phone."

"How do you..."

"Modern technology, old man." Alec huffs and adjusts his shoulders against his pillows. "I do know how to work a smart-phone and assign individual ring-tones."

Magnus scoffs, but he's much too fond to actually sound offended. He gives up on the attempt, and reaches down to poke the _parabatai_ rune down by Alec's hip. "You hear that, you're being ignored."

Alec's chest shifts up and down as he laughs silently. "I love you."

"Thank you." _I love you too,_ Magnus thinks, and his palm settles against the rune as his hand relaxes. _Even the part of you that's him, the part of him that's you._

"Are you about to ask about _parabatai_ again?"

Magnus shrugs, knowing Alec will feel the shift of his shoulders. "Maybe? Is he having as nice a morning as we are?"

There's a bit of a pause, and Magnus isn't sure if Alec's surprised by the question, or if it takes some effort to figure it out. "Well, he's not miserable."

"You both talk about your emotions in relation to each other—"

"But I said it's not empathy," Alec finishes his almost question for him. 

"And yet?" Magnus yawns. "Clearly not in a hurry for an explanation, darling. I just like knowing more about you."

"How can I resist that?" Alec presses a kiss to the top of Magnus' head. "It takes a little while, after the ceremony, to learn to interpret the other person well enough to know what the cues mean. But once you do, it's hard to go back to only acknowledging physical symptoms."

"But say, a tension headache is still clearly different than an injury."

"Usually. We do get it wrong sometimes. Maybe his tense shoulders mean he's angry and holding it in, but maybe he's just tired and had to stand too long in a briefing."

"Does Jace stay in long briefings that he doesn't like?"

"Occasionally," Alec says, his smile softening his voice. "He's better now than he used to be."

"He's happier too, isn't he."

"Yeah." Alec sighs his answer out slowly, and Magnus can feel how it makes Alec's whole body relax just a little bit more. 

"How can you tell?" Magnus lifts his head, shifts until his chin is pressed against Alec's ribs and he can look at Alec's face. "Would you know he was awake, even if he hadn't texted a message or whatever it is we're ignoring?"

A grin flashes across Alec's face, but it fades quickly as he considers his answer. "If he's asleep when I'm awake, sometimes I can feel his heartbeat slow, can feel as the pace draws further and further away from mine." Magnus watches Alec's free hand reach up to rub at his sternum. "I know when he's sad not because I can feel that he's sad, but because I can feel his hands ache, and that's where he is when he's sad, cracking his knuckles or playing the piano."

"Hands." _Something else you have in common._ Magnus swallows the urge to say that out loud, remembering the sight of shoulders hunched as Alec hit the heavy bag too many times, the lines of blood when he let his bow or his arrows catch against his skin.

Alec makes a soft sad noise, a breath lingering in his throat even as he tightens his grip around Magnus. He'd heard it even though Magnus hadn't said it. Magnus blinks. "That's why you're always so good at figuring out what I'm not saying, isn't it. Practice with subtle physical cues?"

Magnus can almost hear Alec blink. "I guess?"

"Why's Blondie so bad at it then?"

"Uh." Alec's voice catches in his throat, and Magnus swallows the urge to snicker at the sound. "I must give different cues? You'd have to ask him."

Magnus rolls his eyes. That's not very likely. 

Alec laughs, and shifts his weight until they're both on their sides facing each other. "If you're going to write your _parabatai_ treatise, you're going to have to interview both sides of the bond."

"I know much better ways to spend my morning than _interviews._ "

"Yeah?" Alec barely breathes the word out as Magnus moves closer.

"Yeah," Magnus whispers back right before their lips meet. _Much better_.

* * *

_He has your heart, and you have his, but that doesn't mean you understand each other._

_It doesn't mean that that's enough._

_It doesn't mean he'll love you._

_Not like you love him._

_It doesn't mean he'll forgive you, when he realizes how different your heart is than his._

_It doesn't mean you'll stop loving him._

_You don't think you could ever stop loving him._

* * *

Magnus hears someone enter Alec's office but he knows it's not Alec, who's still discussing something with a patrol leader the next room over; Magnus can just hear the lift of his voice through both open doors, though he can't hear what he's saying. Magnus doesn't look up from his phone, assuming whoever it is would rather drop off whatever it is they have for the Head of the Institute and leave again without having to engage with "the Warlock" sitting on the couch.

He almost drops his phone in surprise when a small leather book lands on the cushion next to him, and he looks up to see Jace smirking at him. "Present for you."

Magnus glances down at the book and then back up at Jace. "Should I be concerned?"

"What? No." Jace manages to look offended and embarrassed and amused all at the same time. He collapses down onto the chair opposite Magnus and shakes his head. "This is what I get for trying to be nice, suspicion everywhere."

"Maybe you should think about why that is?" Magnus keeps a straight face, but his voice is much too warm and amused. 

"Ha." Jace's eye roll is almost as impressive as one of his brother's. 

Magnus picks up the book, feels how soft the leather is, how loose the spine. It's old for what looks to be a journal, a decade or two at least. "What is this, then?"

"Alec said you were trying to learn about the _parabatai_ bond."

Magnus blinks. "He said he didn't have a hand-book."

"It's not—" Jace swallows, his expression oddly distant, his eyes sad. "I think Michael Wayland wrote it. The real one."

Magnus opens his mouth, but he doesn't know what to say to that, so he closes it again.

"We were living in his house, you know?" Jace's hands are wrapped together, his thumb digging into a hollow between two knuckles. "I thought my father was Michael Wayland, and I knew he'd had a _parabatai,_ that somehow they were apart even though they were both alive, which isn't... that's not how it works, you know?"

Magnus nods. Magnus doesn't let himself think too much about _hands,_ doesn't let himself stare as Jace's grip shifts but never loosens.

"I found this in the library, and I remember thinking how different it was from how my father talked to me, how much he must have changed, how the distance from his _parabatai_ made him someone else."

"You wished you knew the man in the book."

Jace nods and bites his lip. Magnus waits.

"Michael fell in love with his _parabatai._ "

Magnus inhales. His fingers tighten around the book. 

Jace's mouth quirks sideways into something that isn't a smile. "And his _parabatai_ never forgave him for it."

_Robert Lightwood never forgave him._ That makes more sense than it doesn't, and Magnus exhales, long and shuddering. 

"But Michael still loved him. Still kept to his oath as much as he could, even when his _parabatai_ didn't, even when the bond stretched so far Robert couldn't tell when he died, and I wanted..."

"You wanted to be like the man you thought your father used to be."

"Yeah." Jace sighs. "I knew Alec was, I mean." He stops, and swallows, and blinks hard enough Magnus is pretty sure he's holding in tears. He's not the only one. "I wasn't going to make him say it if he didn't want to, you know? I always figured that that was why my f— Why Michael was exiled to his estate, that that was why everything was the way it was when I was young and we were so alone, so isolated. I couldn't do that to Alec, make him risk that."

_Oh, Jace._ Poor lost children with such strong hearts, the both of them, despite the world trying over and over to break them. 

"But I knew." Jace nods at the book, still clutched in Magnus' hands. "If he told me, I wasn't going to be like Robert."

"Thank you." Magnus doesn't just mean the journal. He barely means the journal at all, though he knows he'll be grateful for it when he gets the chance to read it. 

"He guards my heart, I guard his." Jace shrugs, unusually graceless, as if has no idea how remarkable the both of them are. "But you're welcome, I guess."

"Everything all right?" Magnus lifts his head and Jace twists sideways until they're both looking at the doorway, both looking at Alec as he leans against the frame. 

"'Course." Jace bounces back up to his feet, shaking out his hands as he keeps going, slipping out around Alec with barely a pause. "Enjoy your dinner date."

Alec scowls quite adorably in confusion, and Jace laughs as he walks away, the sound carrying down the hallway even over the sound of his retreating steps.

"Interviews and presents, darling." Magnus stands and steps forward as Alec turns his scowl back to him. Magnus kisses him, one soft press of their lips enough to make the scowl fade away. "We're both more than fine, promise."

Alec sighs, as if he realizes that that's all the sense he's liable to get at the moment. "Glad to hear it."

"Are you all finished?" Magnus slips the notebook into the inside pocket of his jacket, opposite his phone. He pats it carefully, making sure it's settled, safe and secure.

"All yours." Alec smiles as he answers.

"Hmm, not quite." Magnus thinks of Jace, of Isabelle and Clary, of Maryse and Lucian, of Simon and Maia and Lydia, of Underhill and the patrol-leader whose name Magnus doesn't even know, of Madzie's laugh and Catarina's slowly widening smiles, even of the grudging respect Alec and Raphael are slowly re-building between them. Magnus kisses Alec again, just because he can. He finds Alec's hand with his own, and his smile widens at how perfectly their fingers slide together. "But close enough."

* * *

_Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they tie two souls together who should not have been so closely bound. Despite all the training, all the tests and precautions, sometimes they fail._

_Sometimes_ you _fail. You feel it end. You have to live with it as your souls stretch apart, as your connection fades until your heart beats alone again, and your chest echoes with it because it's too empty, too quiet._

_It will never feel right again, being that alone._

_But if you had the chance, even knowing what you do now, you'd do it again. You had your time together, fighting and working and living side-by-side. You'd saved each others' lives more than once, and you can't regret that._

_You'll never again know if he feels the same, but you'll never regret it. Never regret him. It was worth it. It_ is _worth it. Both for him, and for who you are now, for loving him._

_Even when it doesn’t last, love is always worth it._

**Author's Note:**

> With especial thanks to [rutherina](https://twitter.com/rutherina) for the beta and [cryptidbane](https://twitter.com/cryptidbane) for the banner and setting up this countdown in its entirety; I am having WAY too much fun with all of it. (It is cross-posted [here](http://faejilly.tumblr.com/post/182474190288) on tumblr.)
> 
> The title is, as usual, from an e.e. cummings poem: [somewhere i have never travelled](https://hellopoetry.com/poem/75803/somewhere-i-have-never-travelled-gladly-beyond/).


End file.
